Morto ou Vivo
by Nocte-Somniator
Summary: Katherine Winters wasn't expecting much from her trip to America. Visiting her uncle seemed more like a chore than a vacation. No matter how her mum had phrased it, she had been dreading it from the moment she got on the plane to the moment she got off. And when her taxi driver tried to rip into her jugular she forcefully had to resist the urge to scream "I told you so" at the sky.
1. Chapter 1

Katherine couldn't believe it. She just couldn't. It was the end of the world and she'd gone and lost her only pair of shoes. How did that even happen? She'd tell you how, scrabbling out of reach from the _rippers_ and one had managed to hook a crippled finger through her boot loop and whilst trying to dislodge the dead she up and lost em both. Ain't that just the icing on the cake. Now she was sat on an empty rooftop, clad in her socks, clutching her chest and heaving for air. Katherine wasn't sure how she ended up here, she had come into the city like usual, empty backpack on her shoulder ready to scavenge everything and anything that could be considered useful. She had been following the path she had laid out for herself, following her spray-painted markings as she went. A hunting knife rested at her hip, and a fire poker in her left hand. Other than those two things, she was weapon-less. Guns weren't exactly her forte, considering she had never seen one in real life left alone knew how to use one. Granted, she hardly knew how to use the knife either, but the blade was a comfort she would have never thought she would've needed.

Katherine had struggled and fought to clear the back-alley ways that she did. Statistically, she could handle one or two rippers, but any more than that she tucks tail and runs. She was good at that, running. It was everything else she was struggling to come to terms with. Though who wouldn't, people coming back from the dead and trying to eat you was a hard pill to swallow.

She had never expected to come around a corner she had done so multiple of times to find a horde of the dead. All standing and waiting, and when they saw her, oh boy did it look like kids at a candy store. Really gross and gruesome kids, wanting flesh not sweets, but the imagery made her smirk more than wanting to cry, so she rolled with it. After all, she didn't have the hydration to waste the tears. She had made a run for it, right then and there, hightailing it away as fast as she could. It was her own fault really, letting panic and fear control her until she was lost and cornered. The only way to freedom was a up a fire escape that looked way to rickety to have been safe but it was the only way, so as quick as she could she scrambled higher and higher. She was lucky to have only lost her shoes and not a leg. That'd have been bad. Really bad.

Now though, she was stuck. The fire escape was the only way up and down and the rippers were still hovering around. No longer actively trying to reach for her, but not moving on like she wanted them too. Pulling her knees to her chest, she let out a heavy weighted sigh, squishing her cheek against her leg as she eyed the rooftop. Today was not going to plan. Was it such a bad thing to want to find a can of something to eat, some water and go on her merry way? She was hardly asking for much. Fisting a hand through her hair, she gave her leg one hearty slap before rising to her feet. She could hardly sit here and do nothing, she needed to figure something out. Something that'd distract the dead far enough away so she could leave. But nothing on the roof was catching her eye, anything up there of use was what she had on her to begin with. And Katherine didn't want to get rid of anything she had, considering that was _all_ she had. Yet, she needed to get down, needed to search for food, water, _shoes_.

She groaned, looking up at the sky like it was to blame for all her troubles. "Son of a bitch," She grumbled, bending down to scoop up the fire poker and make her way towards the fire escape. Leaning over the edge, she quickly made a head count. Twenty, at least. Fantastic.

"Hey!" She shouted, banging the poker harshly on the metal bars. The bang of metal on metal ringing out. Only a few of the rippers glanced up at her, the others wondering around confused and searching. Katherine scoffed, bumbling idiots. "OI!" She bellowed, hitting the poker so hard the action vibrated all the way up her arm. Finally, they took notice. Groaning and snarling as they reached for her. "That's it, atta grosso's, follow me" she cooed harshly, continuously rattling the bar along the edge of the roof. Leisurely, she started to walk away from the fire escape, leading them away.

The process took a while, none fully committed to following the girl considering she was still so far out of reach, but they were moving. Slowly, but surely, they were fanning out away from the fire escape. Katherine didn't dare celebrate yet, not until they were out of view of the escape and had settled down. She led them round to the other side of the building, the alley way on this side much narrower than the other and she couldn't help but thank her luck she hadn't ran down this one instead. Once they had all filed in, she stopped whacking the bars and dropped to the floor, hiding behind the wall. She hadn't realised it, but her hands were trembling. She was scared already and she hadn't even gotten off the roof. _Pussy_ , her mine jeered at her, but Katherine took no notice of it, instead she scurried on all floors as quietly as possible back to her original side of the roof.

Hesitantly, she raised herself up to look over into the other alley way. Only one ripper remained, and she resisted the urge to cheer. The plan had worked! Sort of, and she knew she had to be quick because there was no way the rippers were going to stay put. When one started to march, like a domino effect they all went.

Reaching out for her bag, she slipped it onto her back, placing the poker in one of the clasps for safe keeping and easy reaching, just in case. Life was all about just in case now, just in case you got cornered, just in case you run out of this or that, just in case you got lost, just in case you'd die. Katherine had never lived her life as just _in case_ before, but she was getting used to it. She had to.


	2. Chapter 2

Making her way down the fire escape was much harder than climbing up it, perhaps it was because she was over thinking it, or perhaps it's because she wasn't full of adrenaline anymore. Either way, her knees shook and her palms sweat. The only ripper in the alleyway still hadn't noticed her yet, still, that didn't make her feel any better. The used to be women stared aimlessly down the road, groaning and grunting as she swayed side to side. Though, the moment Katherine's feet hit the ground, the rippers head turned unnaturally to look back at her. Both froze, Katherine holding her breath and the ripper just staring. It didn't last though, with a pulse of energy the ripper moved. Ambling towards her with outstretched arms. Somewhere, deep in the back of her mind, Katherine would try to imagine she was invisible to them, that they'd overlook her and walk away. That never happened. They always found her.

With a curse under her breath, Katherine readied herself to kill it. There was no other option, the alleyway was still a dead end. Squaring her shoulders, she hesitantly walked to meet the ripper, knife at the ready. She couldn't help but think it was against human nature to go against the thing that wanted to kill you. Forcing yourself to kill it before it killed you, grabbing a hold of it and trying to stay out of reach but close enough to drive the tip of your blade into the side of its skull. It made her want to be sick. She was never a vegetarian; she enjoyed meat, but since the world turned to pot, she was considering.

Ignoring her unsettled stomach to frantically bat away the extended hand before it made contact with her face, she grabbed a hold of the rippers collar and rammed the knife into its skull with a sickening squelch. Katherine gagged, jumping back and letting the ripper fall to the ground, her knife going along with it. The movies always made killing seem so simple, graceful even. When she killed, it was awkward and jarring and she wanted to get it over and done with as quick as possible. She wasn't even sure how many she had killed, or how many she was going to. It was a dog eat dog world now; she needed to remember that.

She crouches by its head, placing a tentative hand on its forehead and using the other to rip her knife free. She groans, eyes rolling a moment as she ignored whatever gunk that came along with it.

"That's just disgusting," she moaned, eyeing the offending item with distress. Biting the inside of her cheek she glances between the knife and the rippers jacket. With a twist of her wrist she wiped the blood and goo onto the jacket, pulling back the relatively clean blade and slipping it into her belt. Well, she thought, she's not going to be bothered, is she? Still, guilt stung at her stomach and she couldn't stop herself from mumbling a quite apology. She didn't linger long though, rising to her feet and tightening her rucksack even further before she made her way to the end of the alley. She walks on the balls of her feet until she's by the entrance and could peer out either way. Luck must have been on her side because there wasn't a ripper in sight.

And yet, she still couldn't relax. She could hardly blame herself, she was in a ripper riddled city with no shoes on. If her mother could see her now.

Timidly stepping away from the safety of the alley, she skirts behind a nearby car. Body hunched and low, she crept further round it until she stood by the boot. She needed a plan of action, some food, some water— _some shoes_.

Shoes would be the thing she went for first, she could hardly make her way through the city with nothing on her feet. The chances of her standing on something and getting an infection was too high for her to comfortably look for anything else first. Shoes first, then water, and then finally food.

Though, if she stumbled across something before then, on her way to something else she wouldn't just walk by of course, she just did well with lists. It made her feel structured, like her life was on track.

Not to mention it stopped her from losing her mind, being out here alone, wandering aimlessly, sometimes it felt like she was the dead. But with a list and a plan suddenly she had a purpose, and she liked that. Setting off into a fast-paced walk, she moved with the cars, avoiding anything on the ground as she went. She knew where a shoe shop was; she had passed one on the first time she had ever came to the city, noticed a pair of boots that looked good in the window but was way out of her price range. Now though, they were all hers. Picking up speed, she kept one hand hoovering over her knife, the bump of the handle on her palm reassuring.

That was another thing she was going to need to find, a holder for her knife. Slipping it into her belt wasn't exactly the safest of options. That and she fumbled to pull it out sometimes, either catching her jeans or steadily fraying the belt a little more each time. And at the moment, her knife and the fire poker were her life line, she needed them to be accessible at all times.

As Katherine walked, she made sure to glance over her shoulder every now and again, using the shop windows to help her. It was rare for her to spend this long in the city; it was still a couple of hours before sun down but she liked to be a good mile away from it before dark. She would have to hurry, or she was going to be spending the night in here. That was the last thing she wanted.

So far so good. Her luck with the rippers was going well, she could see some down alley ways or hidden away in shops. The occasional one catching her off guard as it banged on the window of a car, clacking its teeth in her direction. Other than that, she was making good time. Perhaps it was her guardian angel's way of apologising for losing her shoes? Or maybe someone was down some street serving dinner, either way she wasn't going to take it for granted.

By the time she got to the shoe shop, she could just see a group of rippers making their way down the road. They were still a way off. Not seeing her, but she, being so hyperaware of their presence clocking them straight off the bat. Clamping her teeth down on her lip she darted across the road, and stands outside the store, peering in through the window. She couldn't see any, but that didn't mean there wasn't any. Moving to the door, she wraps her hand round the handle and tests it. Open. That was equal parts good and bad. Either whoever was working there ran out in a rush, or someone else had been in their- or someone was in there.

Either way, she was going in. The rippers were making their way down the road and if she made a run for it now, there was a chance that they'd see her and hunt her down. She didn't like that very much. With a quick rap of her hand on the door, she takes a few moments to listen. After ten seconds and nothing appearing- Katherine entered.

Firmly closing the door behind her, it took a while for her eyes to adjust to the sudden change of light. She didn't move away from the door right away, hand finding her blade at her hip she pulled it out, keeping it in front of her. Once her eyes were fully adjusted, she made her way further in.

She'd look around first, make sure it was empty before she dropped her guard and looked for a pair of shoes. The store wasn't huge, the till in the centre of the back wall and racks of shoes coming up to waist height lining the floors. In retrospect, if there was a ripper in here she'd have seen them. Thought it was dark, there weren't many places for one to hide. There was a doorway with stairs leading up, but Katherine wasn't going to touch that with a ten-foot barge pole. She liked to stay on one level; she liked to be able to get out of a sticky situation as quick as she could. And unless she fancied just full on jumping out of an upstairs window that wasn't likely if she went up there.

So, she'd stay where she was, find shoes and go on her merry way.

It didn't take her long to find the pair she wanted, just a simple brown pair of military boots. The hard type that were going to make her feet sweat but last for a while. The laces would run up her calf and provide a little more protection than her jean clad legs already had. That and the boots would be good to stomp on anything that needed to be stomped on. With a glance over her shoulder she took another quick look around when nothing screamed out to her she slipped the knife back into her belt and bent down to find the right size for her. It wasn't hard, the store must have stocked up before everything went down. If she had the man power, or just somewhere to haul up she may have taken more than just one. At least, now, she knew where some would be if she ever needed another pair.

Katherine couldn't accept her luck, sure her day had started off bad. Wake up hungry and thirsty. Eat a dry cracker and some raisins. Enter the infested city. Get cornered in said city. Lose shoes in said city. Trapped on a roof, barefooted and scared in said city. Now though, she had ticked one thing of her list. Shoes. The boots she had wanted. Perfect

However, what she didn't expect to happen was the shelf to the right of her being knocked over and the sudden very _human_ shout to sound out behind her.

"Woah!"

Katherine reeled round with her boots held as threateningly as she could in her hands. She shouldn't have put her knife away. Where had he even come from? She hadn't come across a living person in over a week, so to see the Asian boy staring at her in fear and holding a trembling gun in her direction almost had her pissing her pants.

Even more so when he shouted, "put it down!"

Panic rocketed through her. Put it down? He was the one pointing a gun at her! "Put what down, it's a pair of shoes?!" She cried back, waving the boots at him to prove her point.

The man's hands were still trembling, a bead of sweat had rolled down between the brow of his eyes. He was scared, Katherine reasoned. Why though? She had done nothing. Besides, she was like blonde and eighteen hardly the visage of terror.

"Sorry, sorry…" The man stuttered, lowering his gun. "I didn't, I-" He froze, eyes widening like he remembered he left his iron on. "Oh, shit!" Before she could stop him, he lunged forward, hand wrapping around her forearm and hauled her out of the store.

"Hey!" She snapped, trying to jerk her arm free only for him to grip harder. Katherine noted he didn't even check to see if there were any rippers outside, though when she glanced over her shoulder back to the store, she realised it was rippers he was running from. "Oh, shit…" No longer being dragged along, she pushed with a burst of speed and overtook the man. The bite of the concrete on her bare feet stung, but she didn't care. She'd take stinging feet over a group of rippers any day.

She didn't realise she was leading them until she veered down a narrow alleyway and the man followed after her. His footfalls and heavy panted breath ringing loudly. Boots in one hand, clutched tight to her chest, she used her free arm to grab his and pull him further down the street. At first, she didn't know where she was, but she could see her markings now, the white spray paint of a giant K like a beacon in the dark.

Hand in hand they ran through the streets, ducking in between alleyways and behind cars. Neither one of them wanting to stop until they found themselves on the outskirts, hidden away by a long-forgotten container.

Chest now heaving, Katherine drops the boots onto the ground. Hand on her forehead wiping away loose strands of hair. The man beside her, was crouched, one hand splayed out on the gritted ground as he held tight onto his stomach. She could see him properly now, he was definitely of Asian descent. Dark black hair, short. A handsome face. Young too. A backpack was full to the brim on his back, it looked heavy and yet he was able to run like that—keep up with her. She was impressed.

When the man finally looked up, he came to see Katherine staring at him intensely. She hadn't moved away from the container, back still firmly pressed against it and knees bowed. Her eyes were dark as she watched him, and it was only when she looked away did he notice she wasn't wearing any shoes. He winced, mouth curving down as he realised he made her run with nothing to protect her feet.

"I'm sorry, you okay?" He asked, slowly moving until he was on his feet and taking a step back to give her, her space. No doubt she needed it.

Katherine waved a hand at him, air of nonchalance. "It's fine. Kind of." She wasn't going to admit that there was a steady throbbing in the balls of her feet. Or that she was sure she stood on a rock that had cut her heel. She didn't know him. Sure, he could have left her with the rippers alone, but that doesn't mean she'd admit to being injured. That was a rule, wasn't it? She was sure that was a rule.

He nodded his head, shuffling in his spot as he looked around them. He oozed awkwardness. With a dip of his head, he asked, "you out here alone?"

"Are you?" She countered, trying not to come across hostile but knowing her tone betrayed her.

Both eyed one another, hesitant and unsure. Katherine had grown used to her own company, finding joy in the little things she herself could come up with. she was _fine_ alone. The man felt like he owed her, or at least owed it to humanity to be friendly, he couldn't imagine what it was like to be alone, he would n _ot_ be fine alone.

Slowly, like moving towards a spooked pony he held out his hand. A boyish grin curved his lips as he peered at her from under his cap. "I'm Glenn."

She was still unsure, still barefoot and hungry. Yet, she couldn't stop from offering him her hand. "Katherine."

That had been three weeks ago. Katherine and Glenn had met on the afternoon of one warm sunny day and since then the pair had been inseparable. She couldn't imagine life without him, especially life in a world like this one. She didn't much wish for the world to stay like this, but if by wishing it to go back to normal she'd lose him, well… she may just be selfish enough to keep the world like it was.

Glenn and Katherine had veered off from the main group, it was the first time either one of them had brought others into the city. When Glenn had taken Katherine back to the camp, everyone welcomed her with open arms—well, not everyone—but most didn't see the harm in having a young girl in the group with them. Especially one that was as good as sneaking as Glenn. Initially, everyone was hesitant to let the little blonde venture back into the city, and when Shane- the leader of the group- put his foot down she seemed to have given up on trying to go. But unknown to all of them, Glenn included, Katherine stowed away in the car. Only letting herself be known when they were too far away for Glenn to go back. Granted, when she popped up from the back seat she almost made the Asian crash. Though she made up for it when she saved him throughout the day. After that, neither one went without the other.

Now though, they needed to find a bigger haul and Shane had suggested they take a group with them, Glenn was unhappy about it, but Katherine didn't mind so much. If no one died, she was fine with carting them through the city.

The only reason Glenn and she had left the group was because of a man. Some cowboy had ridden into the middle of the city on horseback and attracted a horde of rippers. Katherine had thought the moment he hit the ground he was dead, but Glenn was positive he saw him climb into the tank. So now the pair were darting to another roof top to get a better view. It was Glenn's idea to call the tank, so Katherine handed it over to him. Though she wished she hadn't when he spoke.

"Hey, you. Dumb ass."

"Dude!" She scolded, snatching it back with a barely concealed grin. Taking a step away to avoid his hands, she focused her attention on the tank. "Hey," she called into the device, "you in the tank. Cosy in there?"


End file.
